Drawing from his elite military background and executive experience, Randy reveals how sales is a disciplined, repeatable process. Together, they break down the four pillars of value selling: qualifying opportunities, monetizing value, pre-call planning, and time & territory management.

You'll hear eye-opening stories, from cockpit checklists to multimillion-dollar deals, that show why process, preparation, and deep customer understanding outperform charisma every time.

This episode dives into:

• Why most sales teams think they sell value but actually don't
• How to monetize quality, delivery, and lead-time improvements
• The hidden cost of treating products like commodities
• Why checklists (yes, like pilots use) can transform your sales performance
• How small improvements in sales activity can drive massive revenue gains
• The critical role of lean thinking in commercial excellence

"You don't get what you expect. You get what you inspect."

Stop selling features. Start selling value, systematically.

In this episode, we examine the tragic aircraft accident that claimed the life of Greg Biffle and his family, and what it reveals about the danger of ignoring established standards. Reports indicate that critical procedures were bypassed—checklists weren't followed, and an unqualified individual was allowed into the cockpit. In aviation, such deviations can quickly turn routine operations into a catastrophe.

Lean organizations understand this principle deeply. Standard work exists not to restrict people, but to protect them. It ensures that critical steps are followed every time, preventing variation that can lead to defects, injuries, or worse.

This episode explores how aviation and Lean thinking share the same core truth:

Standards are written from experience, and ignoring them removes the safeguards that keep systems safe.

Whether in manufacturing, healthcare, aviation, or leadership, the lesson is clear—discipline in following standard work is what makes improvement possible and prevents tragedy.

In many organizations, Lean transformations don't fail on the shop floor—they fail in the finance office. In this episode, "The CFO vs. Lean: The Fight That Gets Lean Leaders Fired," we examine a pattern that plays out in companies across industries: Lean improvements begin to transform operations, but traditional cost accounting systems tell leadership the exact opposite story.

As inventory falls, batch sizes shrink, and flow improves, the accounting system often reports declining "efficiency," higher unit costs, or unfavorable absorption variances. The numbers appear to signal failure—even when operational performance is clearly improving. When executives rely on these metrics, the Lean initiative becomes the scapegoat. Too often, the Lean leader is blamed for results that are actually caused by outdated financial measurement systems.

In this episode, we unpack the structural conflict between Lean principles and traditional cost accounting, explore why CFOs frequently defend these legacy systems, and explain how perfectly "correct" financial reports can lead companies to make deeply wrong decisions. Most importantly, we discuss how organizations can realign finance with Lean thinking so the transformation—and the people leading it—don't become casualties of the numbers.

You will hear about various examples, including grocery shopping and volume discounts, which highlight purchase price variance and excess inventory. You will explore the concepts of push versus pull using the supermarket and kanban approach. You'll gain insights into utilization and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and understand how "banking" uptime can lead to overproduction and unmet demand.

Additionally, you will investigate changeover strategies using a multi-part thermoforming case, illustrated through a barbecue analogy comparing hot dogs and hamburgers. Finally, you will discover why oil leaks and poor visual management are perceived differently in the workplace compared to a car context, including the use of dashboards, warning lights, signs, and scoreboards.

Timestamps:

• 01:31 Lean Accounting Origins
• 04:20 Buying in Bulk Trap
• 06:31 Pull Systems Grocery Lesson
• 08:05 Utilization Incentives Myth
• 11:27 Absorption Accounting Reality
• 12:44 Changeover Barbecue Analogy
• 17:52 SMED Rethink Changeovers
• 18:40 Fix Leaks Like Cars
• 21:38 Visual Management Everywhere
• 25:16 Bring Lean Home and Work

Mark and today's guest, Jason Neal, get into the messy middle of transformation: earning trust at the Gemba, protecting dignity when tempers flare, and dealing with the damage caused by "Lean policing." They also tackle a practical trap that shows up everywhere: leaders say they want engagement, then they take away overtime without replacing it with a better system. The result is predictable. So is the fix.

If you are trying to keep momentum after the first wave of kaizen, this episode gives you language and moves you can use on Monday morning.

Timestamps:

• 00:06:48 - Accidentally aligned with the customer voice
• 00:10:24 - Respect for people when the process fails
• 00:22:38 - Trust as the foundation for Lean sustainment
• 00:22:51 - When the Lean office becomes an audit function
• 00:23:37 - Losing credibility by switching to policing behavior
• 00:25:33 - Stopping disrespect before it becomes normal
• 00:34:54 - Turning overtime into kaizen time without breaking trust
• 00:35:12 - Why cutting overtime first backfires

This episode gives you a fast, practical lens for evaluating whether your organization is built to sustain improvement. You will learn how to recognize common traps that keep Lean efforts stuck, why certain measurement habits create the wrong behavior, and how to distinguish capability building from project theater.

By the end, you will have a sharper way to assess your structure, roles, support functions, and operating rhythm, so you can stop guessing and start fixing what is really holding you back.

Timestamp highlights

• 00:02:03 - Calling Lean a "program" is a red flag
• 00:05:09 - Under-resourced Lean office becomes admin, not a capability builder
• 00:08:43 - Lean leaders too low in the org cannot move mountains
• 00:09:55 - Combining Lean with a line role guarantees Lean loses
• 00:12:03 - Lean office should develop problem solvers, not rack up project points
• 00:18:36 - Lean audits signal inexperience and tool worship
• 00:22:54 - One standard problem-solving method beats a mix of A3 8D and random playbooks
• 00:28:32 - Hino Motors got nine implemented suggestions per person per month by building in time and support
• 00:32:14 - Value streams in name only when functions still control decisions and measures

From CEOs treating their lean teams as spies to audits that destroy credibility, he explains the traps to avoid and the principles that matter. You’ll hear why capability-building should be the core "product" of any lean office, how to prioritize resources around strategy, and why reporting directly to the CEO is so important.

This episode is packed with practical insights for anyone running or working with a lean office, whether you're starting fresh or trying to course-correct.

He shares how traditional pay structures and metrics, especially those tied to cost and output, often reward the wrong actions. You'll hear examples from the shop floor to the C-suite, including a mining company that saved money on parts but paid the price in lost production.

Mark draws on his experience leading the Danaher Business System to explain why companies need to rethink how they measure success. He breaks down what a healthy compensation structure looks like in a Lean environment, how to align cross-functional teams around shared goals, and why hitting 75 percent of a breakthrough can be a win worth celebrating.

This episode speaks to anyone who’s trying to make Lean work while fighting against legacy incentive systems. Mark offers a grounded look at how misaligned rewards can quietly unravel even the best improvement efforts, and what it takes to turn that around.

Mark DeLuzio breaks down how these outdated measures keep companies locked in batch production and bad habits. He shares firsthand stories from the factory floor and the boardroom, including a jaw-dropping moment with a CFO who learned the hard way that ROI is not a reason to keep machines running at all costs.

This episode is for anyone tired of playing metric games that look good in reports but hurt performance where it matters. If you’ve struggled to explain why certain KPIs feel off in a Lean environment, you’ll walk away with clear examples and a smarter alternative to measure what actually matters.

Most Lean initiatives stall because leaders chase tools instead of building capability. In this rare unfiltered session, Mark DeLuzio teams up with seasoned transformation veteran Mark Forkun for a blunt conversation on the realities of Lean, why most organizations fake it, and what it takes to get results that last.

From the hidden failure of matrix org charts to the silent sabotage of cost accounting, this webinar replay is a wake-up call for anyone tired of surface-level improvement. You'll hear how Toyota's true strength isn't what's on the walls, but what's in the minds. You'll also get hard-won insight on problem solving, value stream management, and the dysfunction of Lean "audits" that create motion without impact.

Plus, Mark Forkun shares a preview of his new book and the habits he believes matter most for sustaining Lean results.

Timestamps

• 00:02:10 Why there’s no silver bullet in Lean
• 00:04:30 What you don’t see is what matters — Culture, mindset, and invisible systems > visible tools.
• 00:07:40 Value stream management vs. functional silos
• 00:13:00 How Lean accounting drives better decisions — Traditional cost systems sabotage transformation.
• 00:24:00 Cost of poor quality is hidden everywhere — Why finance must stop tracking irrelevant metrics.
• 00:25:10 Lean ≠ TPS
• 00:33:00 Standard work and problem solving
• 00:47:00 Philosophy and principles lead the way
• 00:54:00 Why Gemba boards fail and audits backfire — Most Lean efforts are theater, not transformation.
• 01:00:00 Tech without waste elimination = faster waste — AI and ERP as enablers, not solutions.

• What is span of control, and why is it important for any lean journey
• Problem Solving – What is the definition of a problem?
• What is meant by standards? How do you begin, how deep do you go, and what is the timeline?
• What is the purpose of a line? (to expose the problems)
• Who "owns" problem-solving? What is the role of the operator?

DeLuzio concludes by suggesting that we need to "reset our thinking" about value-adding and non-value-adding activities. He argues that we should focus on eliminating waste from all aspects of our work, not just the production process.

I am still a fan of McDonald's. However, after over three decades of a career in Lean management, I view them, like many things, differently. Looking at a McDonald's operation through a Lean lens is quite different than through the eyes of a child. This podcast is not intended to disparage McDonald's in any way. They are still one of the most successful franchises in American history, and I am still a loyal customer. One can apply this message I am about to convey to many other fast-food restaurants or perhaps your own business. I am using McDonald's as my guinea pig, so to speak, because of my familiarity and affection for the Golden Arches.